


Heart of Gold

by NGC1039



Series: Dream SMP medieval/revolutionary AU [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguing, Assassin Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Assassin Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Betrayal, Casually forgot the basic tags don't mind me, Character Death, Death, F in the chat for Sap's forehead, Feels, Fire born Sapnap, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, George is out of his element and useless, I am so sorry, Implied Sexual Content, Injury, King GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), M/M, Miscommunication, Pining, Possessiveness, Prince GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Probably more tags later if I feel like it, Protectiveness, Shapeshifter Dream, Spain Without the S, Strangers to Friends for a hot minute to Lovers to Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Techno is done with his shit, Thief Sapnap, Touching, Training, Traveling, but not really, dadboyhalo, defo flerting, dream is a simp, for like a minute - Freeform, send help these boys cannot function, they are dense your honor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28827621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NGC1039/pseuds/NGC1039
Summary: Dream has only ever been loved for his skill and not for him.Sapnap has lost the one person he can touch without hurting.George has always lived in a shadow instead of casting his own.What happens when all this changes?Once again, horrible summary. Also tags and summary have been changed cause things have been added to the story because the CC's love throwing in new info that I can't help but use.Anyways, dteam hijinks and lots and lots of flirting. Hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Series: Dream SMP medieval/revolutionary AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006650
Comments: 138
Kudos: 51





	1. The Fall (Prologue)

The fire crackles as Dream shoves the remains of the wall off of his body and into the remains of the training yard. He coughs violently as he wills the smoke filled air into his lungs through his cracked mask that reveals the right side of his bloody forehead and eye. He slams his fist against his ribs, rasping out pained breaths as he rises and begins stumbling over the bits of wall and fire adorning the ground. He barely pays attention to the fact that he’s missing part of his boot or that half of his emerald cape is freed from it’s clasp and hanging loosely from one shoulder, dragging, catching and tearing on the remnants of the throne room. 

He hears swords clashing in the distance, the sounds of battle and screams cutting through the thick blackened clouds illuminated by raging orange. The masked man shoves away a large chunk of what appears to be floor paneling and is met with a small head of brown hair poking out over the remains of a tower's roof that is pinning his right leg underneath it’s weight. His breathing quickens as he trips over a support beam, almost falling into the dirt as the green eyed man quickly makes his way over to the stirring body of the recently crowned king. 

Without thinking, he crouches, gripping the rubble with both hands and throws it off of the older man with barely any resistance. Brown eyes squint up at him as his right hand applies pressure to a large gash on his left side, blood staining and ruining the once elegant deep blue tunic and cloak he wore. Dream reaches forward to rub away some ash covering his dear companions face, but is lightly shoved away by the man.

The taller pushes his swatting hands away, ignoring his wines of protest as he shifts closer, one of his large hands replacing George’s in applying pressure to the gushing wound as the other fumbles for a still intact healing potion strapped to his belt. He crushes the neck of the bottle and goes to pour the liquid across the open flesh of his king when his wrist is caught in a loose hold, halting his movements slightly.

“You said you wouldn’t,” the smaller chokes out, his voice barely above a whisper that, if it weren’t for Dream’s heightened hearing, would’ve been lost to the noise of the flames, “You promised,”

His hand falls as his eyes slip closed, a single tear of betrayal rolling down and clearing a path through the ash covering his fair skin.


	2. A New Home to Burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I am not dead just drowning in school work. This story also didn't have a clear plot until recently so that also factored in, but I'm here now! 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! There will be more coming out soon hopefully!

Dream leans to the side slightly from his horse to peer at the map his partner and superior is holding tightly in his grasp to prevent the strong wind from carrying it away, “‘Notfoundland’? Really?”

The red cloaked man shrugs, “It’s rather hidden since it’s surrounded by a ring of mountains. Not a lot of people have heard of it before. And since it’s so isolated it’ll be harder for help to come,”

Dream is only slightly unsettled by Technoblade’s smirk, used to the lean man’s violent and bloodthirsty tendencies at this point. 

He shrugs, settling fully back onto his horse as they trot down the tree surrounded path towards the kingdom that will soon be liberated of it’s long line of tyranny, “Here’s hoping this one is as bad as you say unlike the last one,”

The green cloaked man glares at his pig mask wearing companion as they continue moving at their leisurely pace, said man sighing as the topic is brought up once more, “I’m still not apologizing for that. We were given orders to kill him. So we went. And we killed him. That’s how these things work, Dream,”

Said man purses his lips thoughtfully under his porcelain mask, “He was an innocent man-”

“Dream-”

“-A good man, Techno. We didn’t have to kill him,”

“Enough. If you have a problem with how we do things take it up with the elders, not me,”

“But you could’ve chosen not to kill him! You could’ve-”

The pink haired man turns and glares at the assassin beside him, effectively ending the conversation as Dream sighs and goes back to silently staring at the dirt road ahead. 

A few moments later the trees clear to reveal a large plains biome, the large ring of mountains containing their current destination coming into view. It was scarily easy to pass through the long tunnel leading into the front marketplace, where they pass by the closing stores and thinning crowd of people as the setting sun's light can no longer make it’s way over the higher points of the mountains. The duo exit the clustered buildings and into a grass covered field where their prepared home awaits them atop a smaller hill. They tie their horses down and shuffle up the creaking steps into the darkened cabin. Techno is quick to light a few of the candles as Dream stumbles over to one of the two beds, where he shucks off his deep green cloak and unclasps his mask from his freckled face. He slides off his tall black boots, setting them at the foot of his bed before stretching out his legs and shuffling backwards, raising his tired limbs up and settling under the covers, green eyes slipping easily shut from the long trip and his mind fading into the deep realms of sleep.

Dream sighs, stretching his stiff arms above his head and groaning as the sunlight filtering through the slit of the curtains lands annoyingly perfect over his usually glowing eyes. He rolls onto his side, pulling a pillow over his head to block out the streams that are visible due to the layers of dust floating throughout the once uninhabited space. The younger man hears the natural brunette chuckle off to the right behind him as he pulls the thinner covers up over his shoulder more.

“Your mother wants you awake, Dream,” he can practically hear the smirk in the usually monotone man's voice.

Another noise of complaint fills the air, “My mother can go die in a hole,”

Techno’s laugh cuts through the emerald eyed man’s contempt for the mentioned woman for a brief moment, “That’s rather hurtful, Dream. Can’t believe you’d speak of the woman who brought you into this world in such a way,”

Said man rolls over and rises into a sitting position on his temporary bed, his legs now swung down and touching the rough wood below as he glares at the amused expression on his partners face, “I can speak of her however I want to. She deserves every bad thing said about her because they’re most likely true,”

“True. True,” there’s a pause as Dream leans over to drag his boots closer to himself and pulls them over his feet, “How’d you sleep?”

Dream scoffs lightly, allowing a small smile to spread over his scarred over features, “As well as anyone in this life can manage,”

Techno nods as he rises, slinging his cloak back over his shoulders and clasping the ends right over the center of his chest near his neck. 

He grabs the white mask in his right hand, stretching his arms out once more, readjusting his clothes from his restless sleep as he shuffles over to the chair Techno’s in, leaning on the back of it as he looks over the many papers strewn across the table in front of him. 

“What are you doing?”

“Going over plans. Hey, do you mind going into town to buy some food and other supplies for us?”

Dream shrugs, standing fully upright as he slides the mask over his face, shifting it around to sit comfortably on his face, “Anything specifically that we need?”

The long haired man shakes his head, “Not really. Just whatever you think we need,”

The dirty blonde hums, pulling his green cloak over his head as he steps out of the wooden house and makes his way down the dirt path to the market now bustling with life. He fiddles with the sack of money in his hand as he makes his way to the first stall of food, putting his power of persuasion to work as he was able to get an entire sack of bread and cooked mutton for only a few emeralds. The eighteen-year-old maneuvers throughout the crowd of constantly moving people as he acquires more and more items for their mission. He just finishes swindling an annoyed looking man out of a box of iron when he suddenly runs into a smaller figure, who’s body falls to the ground and Dreams barely moves.

“Oh my Prime! I’m so sorry-” the taller is quick to set some of his things down and step forward to apologize and lend a hand to help the man up when his foot comes in contact with something lying along the cobblestone road, crushing it and producing an audible shattered noise.

He lifts his boot to reveal dark tinted glasses with their frame bent inwards, one arm completely having been snapped off and the glass shattered and scattered in a million pieces. The masked man lifts his gaze to the flustered man on the ground, who’s rubbing rather aggressively at his forehead, for a moment before stooping down on one knee to pick up what was left of the item. 

He holds the pieces out the hooded brunette, “I’m really sorry,”

The man opens his eyes and moves his hands away to reveal deep brown irises and pale skin dotted with dark freckles and Dream feels his breath get caught in his throat. 

He doesn’t even realize that the mangled mess of glasses has been scooped from his hands until the stranger frowns, picking at the frame before meeting Dream’s gaze through the mask, “It’s alright. They were kind of just for show anyways,”

The man’s clearly native accent to the region is made very apparent as he speaks and the masked man attempts to ignore the way that his voice immediately warms him as he stands, holding out a gloved hand to help him up.

He eyes the scars and calluses on his finger tips for a moment, seemingly trying to decide if he wants to touch the stranger or not. He sends the taller man a small smile and wraps his much softer hand around the roughened one, Dream easily hoisting the man to his feet the moment that he does.

“I’m George by the way,” He says, giving their still interlocked fingers a firm shake as a greeting.

“Dream. Sorry again. For the glasses,”

George waves off the incident, his smile growing slightly as he looks at the man standing before him up and down, then releasing his hand and stepping back slightly, “It’s alright really. They weren’t that important to me anyways,”

Dream frowns under the birch of his mask, “Are you sure? Is there any way I could make it up to you?”

The brunette laughs sheepishly, tugging the deep blue hood more over his head, “No. It’s not that big of a deal, Dream. I could get another pair if I wanted to,”

“Alright then how about for running into you? I made you fall and I feel really bad about it. Can I please make it up to you?”

The brown eyed man huffs incredulously as his gaze darts around the market for a moment before landing on something that causes his plump lips to quirk up into a smirk that has Dream’s eyes unable to move away.

“Fine-” he begins, shifting so that his hip is jutting out to the side and his arms are crossed, “-Since you won’t forgive yourself then how about you do a better magic trick than that poor man over there?”

George points his left index finger towards a man atop a stack of boxes doing a very sad attempt at any form of other worldly magic, if him doing the ‘removing your thumb’ trick that is meant to amuse toddlers was anything to go by. Dream laughs, rolling his shoulders as he steps through the small crowd of bored onlookers and climbs up onto the makeshift stage. He places a man on the bewildered “magicians” shoulders and ushers him down to the ground politely, handing him three emeralds and sending him on his way. 

He shuffles to the center of the stage and clears his throat, “Ladies and gentlemen of the marketplace, let me lift your spirits and excitement with a little trick I learned not too long ago,”

The crowd immediately perks up at the lively man standing before them, though still seeming skeptical from their last form of entertainment. Dream smirks under his mask as he dramatically holds his right hand out, “By the power gifted to me by the Goddess of Luck-” he feels the poisonous sting of his mothers name as it leaves his lips and wants to gag, “-I will grow fur onto my hand,”

The crowd laughs mockingly as he slides off his right glove and displays his fleshy, scar ridden hand to his audience. He spots George in the crowd somewhere near the front and wishes that the man could see him smirk and wink at him from under his mask to see him smile again, but he continues with his trick regardless of the strange want. 

Dream relaxes his muscles and focuses his mind to shifting into a dog onto his own hand instead of his whole body. He feels the familiar pricking of hair growing from his skin rapidly and his nails grow as the people standing before him gasp and murmur, he can even see his new companions look of shock as he stares up at him.

The masked man quickly shifts back before he puts too much stress onto his hand, rubbing it slightly as he looks upon his grown audience and bows, “Thank you for your time. I hope I have confused you enough to no longer be so grim,”

He swishes his cloak dramatically as he stands upright, “And now, I shall take my leave,”

He twists in his cape and disappears in a blur of purple particles and reappears on a cart behind the crowd, “Have a wonderful day!”

Dream waves at the people as they quickly turn towards his voice as he runs into an alleyway and scrambles over a few rooftops before sliding behind a house on the edge of town. He laughs to himself as he recalls the look of utter confusion on all of their faces, his joy suddenly dying as he’s unexpectedly tapped on the shoulder. He turns quickly, ready to send the person into a wall until he realizes it’s just a stunned George holding his items that he unknowingly left by the stand.

“You forgot these,” he states hesitantly, holding his arms out for Dream to take his belongings which he gratefully does.

“It appears that I did. Thank you,” he smiles at the shorter man from under his mask.

“No problem, also. How did you do all that?!” George suddenly grabs the hooded man’s tunic and shakes him rather violently as he speaks.

Dream laughs, taking the brunette's hands in his as best he can with his arms full, “I can tell you, but not here. Too many people around who can hear and um my arms are kind full,”

The brown eyed man huffs, crossing his arms once more, “Fine, drop off your belongings and meet me at the edge of the forest on the other side of the village. Then you’ll tell me?”

The masked man reaches a hand up and traces an ‘X” over his heart, “Cross my heart. I’ll be there before sundown and if I’m late you get to hit me with a stick,”

Dream smiles as George laughs at his comment, his face scrunching up beautiful as he does so, “I hope you’re late then,”


	3. What Binds Us isn't Fate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! My update schedule no longer exist, I am very sorry, but here you go!
> 
> This is incredibly dialogue heavy btw
> 
> But I hope you enjoy it!

Techno nearly stabs Dream with the pencil in his hand as he jolts up from his relaxed position in his chair when his partner nearly kicks down their front door in his haste to get inside. He haphazardly throws down his bought items and shuffles towards the mirror, pulling his hood down and removing his mask to seemingly look over himself. The brunette raises an eyebrow as the emerald eyed man runs his fingers through his short blonde hair, shifting it to lay differently across his forehead and fluffing it more. Techno is a mere second away from shrugging off the younger’s out of character behavior when he suddenly bends down and ruffles around the pile of items and pulls out a small bottle of cologne, applying it on himself before adjusting his clothing. He even went as far as tucking in his undershirt and smoothing out the wrinkles, which had the leaner of the two’s jaw hanging open in pure confusion.

“What are you doing?” The bewilderment is clear in Techno’s voice as Dream wipes a smudge off his mask.

“Out. I probably won’t be back for a while,” he hastily says, only half answering his superiors question as he speed walks out the door, “I’ll be back before dawn!”

The twenty-one-year old groans, pinching the bridge of his nose as he returns to the plans strewn across the wooden table, merely shaking his head at the blondes antics.

Dream speed walks through the village, expertly dodging people and carts as he maneuvers through the crowd and in between buildings until he’s standing at the edge of the cobblestone path, a clear view of the distant thicket of trees ahead. The unconscious smile that blooms under his mask as emerald eyes land upon a head of brown hair concealed by navy blue cloth cause his toes to curl in his boots and for him to bounce in place as he contemplates how to get there the quickest. His grin turns to a smirk as his gaze drifts to the right of the smaller man and focuses there before he appears beside George in a flurry of purple particles. 

The sadistic expression never falls as he quickly taps his new companions shoulder, “Hey Georgie,”

Said man shrieks, jumping away from the taller who bends over and lets out a wheeze that sounds like he’s deflating his lungs. 

The brunette takes a breath before turning and slapping the hunched over man on the side of his head, “What in the nether was that for?!”

Dream, who now has his knees buried in the dirt as he attempts to compose himself, lets out another painful laugh, “I couldn’t help it! It was set up so perfectly!”

George huffs, fair cheeks puffing out as he exhales quickly, turning and picking up a decently sized stick and winding up to hit the barely breathing man, who holds up one arm in defense, “Hold on! Wait-”

The stick connects with Dream’s ribs, sending the unaffected man onto his side as he chokes out another wheeze at the smaller man's stunted expression, “Did that really not hurt you?”

The tallers hood falls from its once snug position over his blonde locks as he huffs out one last laugh, bringing one knee up and pushing himself to his feet, attempting to ignore George’s curious brown eyes looking over the exposed strands, “Two reasons as to why, one of them being the reason we’re here in the first place,”

The smaller loosens his grip on the fallen piece of tree and tosses it to the side as he awaits Dream’s next words, “One. I’ve been hit harder by a baby zombie who you’re twice the size of. Seriously, do you have any muscle?”

George flushes at the blonde's comment, but is quickly stopped by a gloved hand being held in front of his face in a shushing motion, “And two. Are you ready for this?”

The smaller crosses his arms over his thin chest, quirk an eyebrow and jutting out a hip as he leans his weight on one leg, “I doubt it’ll be anything exciting,”

Dream chuckles, “Trust me it will be and remember, everything I say is all true. Anything that leaves my mouth after now is the truth and nothing but the truth,”

The man cloaked in blue nods, shifting his weight a bit as the other takes in a breath, running a nervous hand through his hair as he goes over his next words carefully. 

“I’m a demigod,” he states dumbly, entirely blunt as the statement leaves his mouth.

George’s face quickly contorts to one of confusion and disbelief as he takes in the tallers words, “No you’re not,”

Dream blinks, taken aback, “What?”

“There’s no way you’re a demigod. Aren’t the gods, like, forbidden to have children with humans or something?”

“If they are then my mom isn’t good at following rules or respecting boundaries then,”

“Nope. I don’t believe it. You’re not a demigod,” George turns to face away from the masked man.

“What? Why would I lie to you? I told you that I would tell you the truth-”

“Then- then. Prove it. Lift that giant rock over there and, I don’t know, throw it?”

Dream follows the brunette's pointed finger to a half buried boulder that is barely sticking out of the dirt and is almost completely covered in moss and tree roots.

He shrugs, “Alright,”

George looks genuinely stunned, watching the back of the deep green cloak of the other as he walks over to the rock. He rubs his gloved hands together briefly, then squats down, balancing on his heels as the dirty blonde shoves his fingers deep into the chunk of minerals before slowly rising to his feet. His legs shake and an audible groan is heard as the dirt around the boulder crumbles, falling from the edges as it slowly begins shifting and rising from its place. The smaller man's arms drop from their crossed position as Dream holds the significantly larger rock above his head, stiffly turns and throws it in his companions direction. George shrieks as the boulder lands several feet behind him with a ground shattering thud.

The taller of the two chuckles, rubbing his hands together as he walks up beside the frozen brunette who’s still staring wide eyed at the now cracked apart rock wedged into the dirt, “So. How’s that for proof?”

George is silent for a moment, then begins sputtering out nonsense and pacing until Dream’s light chuckles bring him back and he quickly turns to face the taller, “How?!”

The masked man crosses his arms over his chest and laughs again, “I told you, demigod,” His tone holds nothing but amusement as he watches the brunette thread his fingers into his short hair, pushing his hood down in the process.

“But that's not possible,” he mumbles out.

“Well I’m here, so it is,”

“No it’s not! You’re lying to me! You have to be using some kind of strength potion or something!” George grabs at the blondes arm, bringing the covered limb to his face in search of the usual embery smell of the strength potion.

When he found none the smaller stepped closer to the masked man, who visibly tenses as the other stands up on his toes so as to smell the air around the bottom of the porcelain for the same odor. Instead of stepping back after finding none of the familiar scent, George instead lifts his gaze to the eye holes of the smiley mask, staring into the blackened voids for a moment before brown irises begin darting all across the mask curiously. Along every little crack, divot and chunk taken out of the worn piece. 

“If you keep staring at me like that I’m going to throw you like that rock,”

George immediately steps back and casts his gaze to the trees directly behind Dream, but not without throwing the blonde a mischievous smirk, “I doubt you could,”

This draws out a genuine, wheeze filled laugh from the stronger man, who doubles over slightly from the intensity, “You doubt that? I could lift you with one hand!”

The brunette pouts, his arms crossed in a more childlike manner than he intended, “No you couldn’t!”

Dream laughs again, walking over and poking the others side with his finger, “You’re so small, Georgie,”

The offended hand is swatted away, “I am not small!” 

“Yes you are,” Dream states in a sing-song voice as he clasps his hands behind his back and turns away from the brown eyed man.

“I’m not!” George shoves the green cloaked man slightly, causing him to laugh as he stumbles a bit.

The two trade shoves as they absentmindedly wander through the thicket of trees, joyous laughter filling the air as they continue to bicker on the topic. Eventually the men come to a stop, breathing heavily from their conversing and chuckling.  
Dream leans against a tree, huffing out a content sigh as he smiles behind his mask at the stunning man before him, “Anyways, we’ve talked enough about me. Why not tell me something about yourself,”

The once gorgeous grin stretched across George's fair face falls as he tenses, one arm coming up to rub the other and his gaze cast downwards. He shuffles away from the concerned man, seemingly closing off from his companion, “I don’t think-”

The town bell chiming in the distance interrupts whatever the brunette was about to say, though he looks visibly pleased by this as he lets out a breath, “I have to get back,”

Brown meets green through a layer of white once more as Dream nods, “Alright. Would you like me to teleport you to the edge of town? It’ll be quicker than walking,”

The smaller nods, taking the others outstretched hand and closing his eyes as he feels himself shift for a moment. George opens his eyes, staggers a bit until strong hands grasp his shoulders, steadying him as he looks up at the once far away buildings now mere feet in front of him.

“That felt weird,” the brown eyed man mumbles out as he holds his head with one hand.

Dream chuckles, “Ya. I felt the same when I first started using this power, but you get used to it,”

George smiles up at him, quickly reaching out and grasping the tallers hand in his own softer one as he pulls away, “Wait. Do you mind… walking me to the palace walls? I live near there and-and I wouldn’t mind some company,”

The taller smiles under his mask, squeezing the dainty hand in his grasp, “Of course,”

The duo walk rather silently through the now quieter town center, only making light conversation when they felt was appropriate. The silence was comforting for the two, in a way as George laces their fingers together as they near the wall. Dream giving the digits a gentle squeeze as they stop at the edge of the fortified bricks.

“Well. Thank you. For a wonderful walk and talk, Dream,” George says awkwardly.

The taller only chuckles softly, rubbing his thumb over the others while their hands are still entwined together, “Of course. I had a great time talking with you. Maybe we could do it again? Hang out and talk about things?”

The shorter smiles, hesitantly biting his lip before stepping forward and rising on his tiptoes to place a quick peck on the side of Dream’s mask, his lips brushing against the skin of his jaw causing the other to inhale at the foreign touch.

George steps away quickly, a large smile stretching over his features as he takes in the blondes frozen state, “That would be lovely,”

The brunette flips up his hood and scurries off around the wall as Dream lifts his hand up to brush over where the kiss had been placed. He allows his fingers to linger for a moment before a large grin breaks out under his mask and he jumps up and down in place a few times, pumping his fist into the air as he lets out a hushed triumphant, “Yes!”


	4. Love is Weakness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Welcome back to this long over due update. I ma very sorry for being gone so long, but good news! Since my beta reader and I have almost entirely mapped out the next two chapters they should be coming out a lot sooner than the other ones have been.
> 
> Anyways I hope you enjoy and have a nice day!

The cabin door creates a loud thud as it reconnects with the door frame, Techno swiveling in his chair with a perplexed look that quickly turns into a delightful smirk as he takes in his companions expression upon noticing his mask is no longer resting over his freckled face. Dreams smile falters only slightly as the duo's eyes meet. 

“What?” The one word is filled with a certain giddiness and a small chuckle that only caused Techno's grin to widen even more.

The leaner man's face scrunches up as he lets out an airy laugh. He places one arm on the back of his chair and leans forward to rest his chin in his forearm, "So-“ the word is drawn out in a teasing tone that lightens the redness of Dreams cheeks slightly, “-How were they?”

The flush returns as the blonde reaches a hand up to rub the back of his head, a lopsided grin stretching across his lightly tanned skin, “He was nice. We talked for awhile,”

“Mmhm. That stupid smile on your face suggests that you guys didn’t just ‘talk’” 

Dream scoffs half heartedly, “Nothing else happened. Get your mind out of the gutter. We just. Talked,” 

Techno brings up the hand still laying in his lap and coughs loudly into it, “Bullshit,”

The younger smiles, quick to point a finger at his companion, “Hey. I’m not lying. We’ve only just met today. I wouldn’t do anything like that with someone I don’t know,” 

The long haired man raises an accusatory eyebrow, “Fine. What did you guys talk about then?” 

“My powers. He wanted to know how I had them and so I told him,” he stops to chuckle, “He didn’t believe me at first,” 

“Understandable,” 

“But then we just, walked through the woods for a while and talked about things. It was, nice,” Dream stares off to the side for a moment, the love struck grin returning.  
Techno's loud chuckle brings him back as his emerald eyes land on the amused man, “Bruh, you got it bad,” 

“What?! No I don’t!”

The older scoffs, “Yeah, sure, when pigs fly,”

A wolfish smile crosses the blondes features, “Well I have seen you fly before,”

Techno narrows his eyes at the now smirking man before him, “You do realize it’s just a mask, right?”

Dream turns to the side, waving off the other with a rather sassy pose, “Sure it is pig man,”

The younger barely has enough time to dodge the hard covered book thrown his way, sliding to the side with ease as the other continues to glare at the all too amused eighteen-year-old. 

Techno straightens up in his chair, moving to turn back to facing his desk, “Anyways. Enough of your complicated love life. It’s time to talk about strategies here,”

Dream chuckles, shaking his head one last time before walking up to stand behind the older man, placing his forearm on the back of his chair, leaning his full weight on it, “Alright. What do we have so far?”

The brunette slides a few papers and scrolls aside so that the duo could view the neatly drawn map of the mountain encased castle, “So I’ve done a lot of research while you were out getting some-”

“-Some nice conversations,” Dream sighs as Techno snickers, “And you found…?”

“I found that the left side of the north tower has a blind spot that we can scale up along to this window here,” he pokes the spot of the drawn wall with his index finger a few times before slumping back into his chair.

“We can’t break anything here, so you’ll have to teleport inside after we scale the wall so that you can let me in,”

The younger leans away from the other, cracking his knuckles, “Alright! I can do that!”  
“Good. Next you’ll take the west side of the castle to check for other exits or escape routes while I do the same to the east side just in case we need them. And so that we have a sense of where we’re going in case we need to go in another way on the Coronation day,”

The blonde smiles, bouncing on his heals as his partner slides the chair back slightly and stands, “Great! When do we head out?”

Dream spins around to see Techno adjusting his pink wig and slinging a red cloak matching his other his shoulder. The older turns, the pig mask now settled over his face as he stares at the freckled man, “Well into the night. Preferably when the moon's high. That means that by the time that we get there-”

“The moon will be lower and we’ll be more hidden,” Dream finishes, getting gently shoved by his superior.

“Well look at that, you actually have been listening to me,”

The slightly shorter man shoves the other as they both chuckle to themselves, the now pink haired man coming around to dig his shoulder into Dream’s side, sending him stumbling back a few paces. The two continue to laugh as they wrestle about, knocking the scrolls from the messily cluttered table, Techno’s legs shoving the chair into the corner as his partner attempts to trip him over the slightly stable piece of furniture. The bedding on the twin beds ended up strewn across the rickety floor when Dream had stepped wrong and his foot slid out from under him, sending him tumbling down and effectively ripping the once neatly tucked sheets from under the mattress. 

At one point Techno, with baited and humorous breath, had attempted to halt the lenient sparring match to take a break before the mission. Though Dream elected to ignore his superior and he launches himself from his bed, tackling his long time partner to the floor and once again engaging in another round of laughter and playful punches.

By the time Techno has locked the younger between his forearm and bicep and is giving him a rather violent noogy while he squirms about on the floor, the sun had long set and midnight was nearly upon the duo. They shove each other a few more times before beginning to slip on their gear, blowing out the candles lighting the one room cabin they reside in a warm orange glow and walking out of the door to begin the bland walk to the castle walls. 

Once there, it didn’t take long for the walls to be scaled, guards to be avoided, windows to creak open, barely letting in the nightly chill before sealing off the world once more, and for quiet footsteps to thump against the carpeted stone as the two cloaked men made their way down a few corridors, before deciding to split off to either sides of the large castle. 

Dream slides his hand along the inner wall of the hallway not covered with floor to ceiling windows in hopes of finding a possible passageway that could be useful. He’s made it down three separate halls and finally finds a loose stone when he hears humming coming from a bit ahead of him. The masked blonde quickly leaps into the small space of the rafters, his enhanced agility and strength allowing him to jump the several feet from the neatly kept ground below. He slides his right arm through the small area, resting his right foot against the wall and allowing the rest of himself to hang in the air as the distant humming grows louder until the demigod notices a small head of brown hair slightly skipping down the corridor. 

The emerald eyed man does a double take as the petite figure of the man below him, who is dressed in silky nightwear and carrying a decently sized crate seemingly filled with a variety of paints, appears awfully familiar to him. The brunette, possibly of royal status due to the regal-ness of his nightly outfit, does a small spin, allowing the other to catch a glimpse of his smiling face for merely a moment before he turns a corner and is gone from his widened gaze.

Dream blinks a few times under his mask, taking in a shaky breath and pausing until sliding silently back down to the floor. He eyes the archway that the brunette had passed through for a lingering second before turning and continuing his search. 

A few hours later a still dazed Dream slides out of the window and down the North wall until he reaches the ground where his partner stands surprisingly patiently. He goes to speak when Techno places a finger over his own lips and nods to the protective fortress walls. The blonde returns his own head nod and follows his superior out the way they came in and eyes the barely visible sunshine peeking over the mountains as the two begin their journey home. 

“So-” Techno begins after they are finally out of range of any curious ears and eyes, “-did you find anything?”

Dream pauses, “Um… No not really. I mean I found one passageway that leads to the kitchen, but that isn’t really helpful for us since there will be people there on the coronation,”

The other hums thoughtfully, eyeing the man walking beside him with a scrutinizing gaze, “And?” 

“‘And’?”

“What else did you find?”

Silence, “Nothing else, really,”

“You wouldn’t be acting this way if it was ‘nothing else’”

“It isn’t anything important to the mission. I just thought I saw something is all,”

A hum fills the chilly new morning air, “What did you see?”

“A man, who didn’t see me,”

Techno narrows his eyes at the green cloaked man beside him under his mask, “A man?”

“Yes,”

“And what is the significance of this man if he did not see you?”

“Well-...” Dream reaches up to push his hood down, rubbing the back of his neck, “-He looked kind of like George,”

The air is filled with silence for a moment, “George? Who’s George?”

“The guy I told you about,” The blonde's voice got smaller and quieter as he spoke.

“So, you thought you saw the man you’re very much into, walking around in the castle late at night?”

“Yes. I-I think I did,”

“Are you sure it was him?”

“Well. No-”

“Then it probably wasn’t, Dream,”

“But, I saw his face, and I could’ve sworn it was him,” at this point the younger had stepped in front of Techno, halting their only half finished walk.

“But did you see it long enough to know for sure that it was him?”

“No, it was only a second and George wore a hood while we were together-”

“Then you have no way of knowing they were the same person. A lot of people have brown hair, ya know,” the pig man raises a finger to point at his wig covered locks.

“I know, but-”

“But nothing, Clay. You can’t allow yourself to be distracted by a man you barely know,”

“I’m not distracted!” Dream shouts a little defensively, especially at the use of his real name.

“Yes, you are. It’s alright if you keep your more personal thoughts and desires to yourself, but when they start interfering with your job. With your duty, that’s where I draw the line, Clay. For what we do, love is nothing but weakness. It’s a distraction. Don’t you remember what happened the last time you were distracted on a mission? We failed and the elders-...”

Dream visibly tenses at the mention of their superiors. His body begins to shake and gaze cast downwards towards the ground as the air is filled with a thick silence. 

Techno sighs, reaching a hand forward and placing it on the other’s shoulder, “Just please. Try to stay focused on the task at hand, for your own sake, Clay,”

With that the red cloaked man retracts his hand, steps around the still frozen blonde, and continues his walk back to the cabin.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Suggestions are very much welcome!
> 
> No hate please!
> 
> Love you all!


End file.
